The effect of differences in group composition on knowledge transfer, group achievement, and learners’ affective responses during reciprocal concept mapping with the Kit-Build Approach

Abstract

Collaborative learning requires a structured and open environment where individuals can actively exchange and elaborate their ideas to achieve a high-quality problem-solving solution. The use of concept map has been extensively implemented to facilitate idea generation and maintain shared focus during discussion. This study employs the Reciprocal Kit-Build (RKB) approach as a designed activity to support collaborative concept mapping. Though previous studies show the RKB is promising to promote productive discussion and achieve high-quality group products, they have not investigated how individual knowledge differences may potentially influence the effectiveness of collaboration. This study aims to identify the effect of group composition on learning effectiveness at the level of interaction between individual and group and at the level of the group as a whole. At the interaction level, we investigate the amount of knowledge transfer from shared and unshared individual knowledge to group solutions, while at the group level, the quality of collaborative maps is evaluated. Moreover, we explore the affective responses of learners during designated activities. A single group design is applied to illustrate the learning activities in a practical classroom settings where all students receive the same treatment. Our findings show that the transfer of individual shared and unshared knowledge is considerably high in all group conditions. Group composition does not significantly affect knowledge transfer and final group-outcome products; however, it may induce learners to experience different affective states. The results are essential for practitioners who intend to apply the RKB in their classroom to determine the appropriate group settings.

Online Collaborative Kit-Build Concept Map: Learning Effect and Conversation Analysis in Collaborative Learning of English as a Foreign Language Reading Comprehension

“…In learning with the current Kit-Build concept map tool, a single user can only create or compose one concept map at a time. Even though the tool has been applied in collaborative learning, it cannot be operated by more than one student to work on the same concept map at the same time [10], [11]. Moreover, it was impossible to use the current tool to collaboratively work on a single concept map from two different computers simultaneously.…”

“…Teachers can assess students' understanding by automatically comparing students' concept maps with the teacher's respective concept maps. In other studies, the tool has been extended to support efficient authoring [9], collaborative work [10], [11], and further extensions towards learning activities with Kit-Build [12].…”

“…Previous studies suggested that posing concept maps in collaborative learning could improve students' learning and productivity [15], [16]. Using Kit-Build concept map in collaborative learning also yielded similar benefits towards learning [10], [11]. However, how Kit-Build concept map performed in online collaborative learning has yet to be discovered.…”

Semi-Automatic Concept Map Generation Approach of Web-Based Kit-Build Concept Map Authoring Tool

“…Thus, the concept map in which be decomposed into a kit could help the students focused on important ideas represented by the kit. Extending the concept mapping activity [15] and incorporating Kit-Build into collaborative learning [31,32] could also improve their interaction during learning [21,33] and help students to understand and comprehend the learning material.…”

Functional Brain Network Analysis of Knowledge Transfer While Engineering Problem-Solving

“…Knowledge transfer is the process whereby individual skills/knowledge in one situation impacts the skills/knowledge in another situation (Ishizaka et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021a ). Individual knowledge transfer builds the cognitive structure learned on prior experiences, not involving intra-organizational and inter-organizational interactions (Sadita et al, 2020 ). Engineers constantly review previous knowledge and learn new skills while engineering problem-solving, usually accompanied by multiple knowledge transfers (John et al, 2019 ; Vieira et al, 2020 ).…”